Bardic Performance 14 rds/day -- 10 rds used
Countersong: allows subjects within 30 ft affected by a sonic or language-dependent magical effect to use bard's Perform check in place of saving throw
Distraction: subjects within 30 ft affected by an illusion (pattern) or illusion (figment) effect may use bard's Perform check in place of saving throw
Fascinate: can fascinated one creature (+1 for every three levels beyond 1st) within 90 ft, Will DC 14 (10 + 1/2 level + Cha mod)
Naturalist: when she successfully identifies a creature with a Knowledge check, can provide strategies to allies for defeating creature, granting a +1 insight bonus to AC, attack rolls, and saves vs exceptional, supernatural, and spell-like abilities of that kind of monster; bonus increase by +1 at 5th level and every six levels thereafter

Traits:
Lettered: Linguistics is class skill, +1 to Linguistics to decipher writings, never make a false conclusion on a failed check (from Halflings of Golarion)
Focused Mind: +2 on concentration checks

Appearance:
At 2'8" and just under 30 lbs, Laya is small even for a halfling. Combined with her youthful face, this often causes her to be mistaken for a child. She has brown hair and eyes. Her clothes tend to be dark-coloured, but generally rather flamboyant, decorated with beads and feathers. She is particularly fond of hats and headdresses.

Personality:
When people are asked to describe Laya, the word that most often comes to mind is "odd". This comes primarily from her tendency to say things that seem random and completely out of place on the surface, but when you stop to think about it, fit a rather bizarre logic. She can be rather sombre sometimes, but can brighten up considerably quite suddenly.
Laya likes to answer people's questions and will generally provide far more detail than the people were initially looking for. However, she is not fond of answering questions about herself or her private life. When asked such questions, she generally refers people to talk to her husband, Chal, as he likes to talk about such things. Chal never seems to be around, however.
Although she is generally cheerful and always tries to find the best in any situation, she can have a bit of a temper and when riled up, is not afraid to give someone a piece of her mind.

Background:
Laya grew up in a nice, loving home without any troubles or concerns. Although she heard from her parents about how halflings were often kept as slaves in some parts of the world and were treated no better than slaves in the rest, she had never known slavery, and she didn't interact with other people often enough to notice any problem with the way they treated her. Her parents ran a successful inn in the Coins district of Absalom and even had humans working for them. To Laya's mind, that hardly seemed like her family was being treated like slaves.
Laya was always distant. She spent most of her time thinking and creating stories in her head. She loved to fantasize about what might happen. Sometimes her fantasies were mundane (she might create an elaborate conversation in her head between her father and the next customer to come in) and other times, they were far from mundane (Absalom gets invaded by rampaging, intelligent mammoths).
In her early teens, she began to desire to get away from the bustle of her parents' inn, so each day, when her duties were done, she would wander off to explore the city. It didn't take her long to discover the quietest places in the city were libraries and graveyards. The Forae Logos was too big and intimidating, so she preferred to stick to the many smaller libraries throughout the city. Graveyards were a great place to sit with a book and read. She began spending long hours every day sitting in such places, absorbing the stories and lore found in the books she managed to get her hands on.
When her parents found out, they were initially a little disturbed that their daughter was taking too much of a morbid interest in the dead, but they soon adjusted to it. Laya knew, however, that it wasn't the dead she was interested in, but rather the peace and quiet, and the opportunity to learn and speculate.
A common spot for her was the graveyard of a small temple of Pharasma. The clerics at the temple soon noticed the young halfling spending a lot of time there. Most of them paid her no mind, but an elderly human priest named Elusha took an interest in her and beganto speak to her, even offer guidance. Elusha had hoped for a new recruit to the faith, but Laya's interests were too wide-spread and not focused enough, even though she did show an interest in the faith of Pharasma, particularly the prophecy aspect, of which Elusha was one of the rare clerics.
Elusha eventually suggested that Laya should seek enrolment in the Arcanamirium or another magic school, such as the College of Mysteries, maybe even the White Grotto. She took to the idea, but was never fully satisfied with the choices she had. The White Grotto was too focused on performance even though it offered the wide base of knowledge she sought. The College of Mysteries was far too expensive. She settled on trying out for the Arcanamirium. Although she found its size and population intimidating, she soon adjusted--or thought she did.
While she thought she was doing well, her instructors were not so convinced. She wasn't focused enough as far as they were concerned, too easily distracted by irrelevant details, too much of a daydreamer. In the end, she transferred to the White Grotto after all, deciding that the performance aspect of her education would simply be oration. She liked the idea of reading her beloved books aloud to an audience. Of course, that turned out to not quite be the type of oration the school expected of her, but she managed to squeak through and graduate.
Over the years, Laya has continued in much the same way. She loves to investigate things, postulate possible explanations, and then attempt to deduce the truth about them. She's also fascinated by fortune-telling methods and loves to predict the future. She loves Harrow Decks, but has not yet been able to afford one of her own (partially because she's not good at saving her money).
At some point, Laya married a halfling named Chal. No one is quite sure just when this marriage took place. Laya simply started mentioning him one day, although no one seems to have actually met him, not even her parents or brother. Whenever people ask to meet him, he's always "out of town". This has led many people to believe that he doesn't really exist and is simply one of her many fantasies. However, Elusha once used a discern lies spell on her to determine the truth and discovered that Laya was not lying--unless she resisted the spell, which is not impossible.